近距离内射合集

What options do teenagers have to participate politically?

Voting is the first thing that comes to my mind, but that's off the table until you're 18. I'm currently 15. I have no way to participate.

But other states and even the federal government have Senate page programs.

New Mexico will need new leaders as older lawmakers leave office. While opportunities like New Mexico Youth and Government exist, the state government does not formally back the program. I had the opportunity to go to the Conference on National Affairs (CONA) in North Carolina, where delegations from Youth and Government programs from across the 近距离内射合集 States discussed various issues: Are our communities too reliant on foreign energy? Should Washington, D.C., be the 51st state?

I presented a proposal on modernizing the national power grid alongside hundreds of teenagers, who diligently worked to cooperate as seriously as any legislature would. These students and I have an appetite for civic engagement. What is missing is a formal state program to participate in.

Our state isn't alone in the gap. But why should we strive to be the same as other states? Colorado has no page program for high schoolers, only for college-level students. Utah sends lawmakers to classrooms. Real floor work is reserved for college interns. Arizona鈥檚 internship requires 75 completed college credits, putting it out of reach for even dual-credit high school students.

Other states have demonstrated that such a program is possible. Florida has a page program where students age 15-18 are paid $250 or given credit for 40 hours of community service. At the end of their program, the pages have their own mock session where they draft legislation. Virginia鈥檚 page program works directly in the statehouse clerk鈥檚 office. Nevada takes it a step further. The Nevada Youth Legislature is a two-year program during which students write and pass real bills. Three have become actual Nevada law, which includes a measure granting amnesty to underage drinkers who call for help.

Our state has none of this. Not something as simple as Florida, not a Virginia-style clerk鈥檚 office placement. Clearly not a Nevada-style pipeline. What we have, along with most states, is Youth and Government 鈥� a program that leads to CONA. Backed by the YMCA, it's valuable but entirely unofficial. No backing by law, and no formal connection to our government.

As a student, it would be so valuable to have a formally established, statutorily backed program that would give high schoolers like myself a real view of our state Legislature. Students could deliver materials, observe floor debates and learn the mechanics of lawmaking from the actual legislators. Virginia has offered such an experience since before the Civil War.

The cost would be modest. Nebraska runs its program with existing staff and Washington caps each student to one week, keeping costs predictable. A well-run, well-designed state program can run lean and still be transformative for any student who goes through it.

Every session, our lawmakers debate how to build the next generation of leaders. Meanwhile, there鈥檚 not even a state program to help mold the next generation of leaders. The best chance to change that is in a round building in Santa Fe.

Aaron Valles Chavez is a sophomore at the Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science.